ORLANDO, Florida: The Orlando Magic overcame a sluggish first half to beat the Portland TrailBlazers 92-83 on Friday and reclaim the lead in the NBA’s Southeast Division.
Dwight Howard had 12 points, 20 rebounds and four blocks to help Orlando beat Portland for the sixth time in the past seven meetings.
Portland’s Brandon Roy had 33 points but the Trail Blazers ran out of energy in the second half, shooting just 34 percent and being out rebounded 54-35.
The score was 76-76 with 6:53 left before the Magic went on an 11-0 run to seize control.
Bulls 101, Hawks 98, OT: In Chicago, Chicago ended Atlanta’s six-game winning run in overtime.
Derrick Rose scored a career-high 32 points including the tying basket that sent the game to overtime, and then two free throws with 11 seconds left in the extra period to seal it.
The Hawks had a chance to tie it, but Joe Johnson missed a 3-point attempt.
Rose got the rebound and missed two free throws with 2.3 seconds left, but Atlanta’s inbound pass was blocked to end the contest.
Johnson had a season-best 40 points for the Hawks, who slipped a game behind Orlando in the Southeast.
Rockets 95, Thunder 90: In Houston, the hosts almost blew a 17-point third-quarter lead before steadying to see off Oklahoma City.
Trevor Ariza scored 31 points and hit five 3-pointers for Houston, who has won 10 in a row at home against the Thunder.
Jeff Green led Oklahoma City with 21 points.
Suns 121, Wizards 95: In Phoenix, the hosts made extended their perfect home record to 10-0 by routing Washington.
Steve Nash had 15 points and 15 assists before sitting out the fourth quarter, while Amare Stoudemire had 23 points and 14 rebounds, as the Suns remained the only team in the NBA without a home loss.
Phoenix has won 19 in a row at home dating to last season.
Washington’s Gilbert Arenas scored 22 points in 23 minutes but made just 6 of 21 shots.
Jazz 110, Bobcats 102: In Charlotte, North Carolina, Utah bounced back from a miserable loss to defeat New Orleans. Deron Williams had 23 points and 10 assists, and Carlos Boozer added 22 points and 11 rebounds, after the pair had managed just eight points between them in the big defeat at Atlanta. Gerald Wallace had 30 points and 13 rebounds for the Bobcats.
Lakers 103, Nets 84: In East Rutherford, New Jersey, Los Angeles comfortably won a meeting of the NBA’s best and worst teams.
Kobe Bryant had 29 points and 10 rebounds, while Pau Gasol had 14 of each as Lakers won their third straight game of a road trip.
The Nets dropped their seventh straight, but the game was competitive into the third quarter, when Bryant started taking over about the time the league’s lowest-scoring team was enduring one of its usual droughts.
Devin Harris led New Jersey with 21 points.
Spurs 100, Pacers 99: In San Antonio, Tim Duncan’s dunk with 4.6 seconds left gave San Antonio victory over Indiana as Spurs coach Gregg Popovich notched his 700th career win.
Duncan’s first attempt, with time winding down, was blocked before the Spurs’ perennial All-Star grabbed the ball back and rammed in the winning score.
Popovich is the 16th coach in NBA history to reach 700 wins and is among seven active coaches to pass the milestone.
Troy Murphy led the Pacers with 21 points.
Kings 96, Bucks 95: In Milwaukee, Tyreke Evans made a reverse lay up with 0.9 seconds left to lift Sacramento past Milwaukee.
Milwaukee’s Andrew Bogut had a tying attempt at the death, but his baseline jumper hit the side of the backboard as time expired.
Evans scored a game-high 24 points to top Milwaukee rookie Brandon Jennings, who had 15 points, nine assists and six rebounds.
Clippers 112, 76ers 107, OT: In Philadelphia, Los Angeles blew a big lead and came within a fraction of a second to losing, before recovering to edge Philadelphia in overtime.
The Clippers’ 16-point, third-quarter lead vanished and it appeared they lost but Andre Iguodala’s jump shot as time expired was ruled out, as he did not get it away in time.
Chris Kaman scored 24 points and Baron Davis added 20 for Los Angeles.
Marreese Speights scored 28 points and Iguodala added 20 for Philadelphia.
The game was played before a sparse crowd of about 2,600 after a winter storm dumped one to two feet of snow in the area.
